1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a remote support technique for remotely providing support regarding how to use an electronic apparatus such as an image forming apparatus and a troubleshooting procedure therefor, from a remote location.
2. Description of the Related Art
As it becomes increasingly complicated to use electronic apparatuses such as image forming apparatuses and to perform trouble shooting procedures therefor, it becomes frequent that users of these electronic apparatuses directly inquire to call centers of manufacturers to get answers. Regarding such call centers, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2013-45198 and 2013-45200 each discuss a terminal apparatus that transmits a predetermined command to an electronic apparatus at a remote location to thereby collect and analyze state information of the electronic apparatus. This terminal apparatus is set up at a call center. The terminal apparatus transmits the predetermined command to the electronic apparatus upon detecting occurrence of an error at the electronic apparatus. The electronic apparatus collects an image of a user operation screen, user operation information, and the state information of the electronic apparatus to transmit them to the terminal apparatus based on the command. The terminal apparatus analyzes the collected information and transmits support data according to a result of the analysis to the electronic apparatus. The electronic apparatus displays a procedure for solving the error based on the support data on the user operation screen.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2013-45198 and 2013-45200 suggest that the terminal apparatus discussed therein enables the call center to provide appropriate support to a user according to the status of the electronic apparatus even without telephone communication made between the user asking for support and an operator on the call center side.
However, the above-described terminal apparatus operates under the premise that the support data and an error analysis procedure which is identified based on the support data are predetermined by the support side. Therefore, there is left such a problem that this service cannot necessarily help the user, depending on a content of sought support. More specifically, the information grasped by the call center alone, may not be sufficient for the solution, which makes it difficult to determine an appropriate support measure.
In such a case, a serviceman in charge of technical support physically must visit a user's location to solve the trouble, but this leads to a delay in providing support. If the electronic apparatus runs into a state unexpected by the support side, user's business, especially a user making a commercial product may end up incurring some loss due to that delay.